Thursday, September 13, 2012

A new low (but probably not the last)

At 6:17 AM on Sept. 11, the American Embassy in Cairo issued the following statement:

"The Embassy of the United States in Cairo condemns the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims -- as we condemn efforts to offend believers of all religions ... Respect for religious beliefs is a cornerstone of American democracy."

More than twelve hours later the AP reported that at least 1 American was killed in an attack on the American consulate in Libya.

Several hours later, Romney said: "It's disgraceful that the Obama Administration's first response [to the killing] was not to condemn attacks on our diplomatic missions, but to sympathize with those who waged the attacks."

As is clear to anyone who can read and tell time, Romney was wrong on all counts. The statement from the Cairo embassy was not a response: it came before the attacks and was an honorable attempt to defuse the situation. Secondly, the statement did not sympathize with those who waged the attacks, but with the millions of mostly peaceful and non-violent Muslims who might have been offended (by some low-grade anti-Islam movie posted anonymously on the Internet).

In fact, the actual first responses of the administration, from both the President and the Secretary of State, came the next morning and strongly condemned the attacks -- and promised retaliation.

So far, in keeping with established tradition, the Republican candidate for President's behavior was utterly beneath contempt.

But, to show the sad state we are in, ABC news reported that an administration official said that "no one in Washington approved that statement [the one in red above] before it was released and it doesn't reflect the views of the US government." Doesn't reflect our government's views? Does this mean that our government thinks "Respect for religious beliefs" is not a "cornerstone of American democracy"? Perhaps we should respect only Christian beliefs? Or no one's beliefs? Allow me to interject: WTF?!?